Black Narratives of Transcultural Appropriation: Constructing Afropean Worlds, Questioning European Foundations

Stephan Dualla Misipo was born in 1901 in Douala, Cameroon, and emigrated to Herborn, Germany, at the age of twelve. He was one of several hundred colonial migrants from Cameroon who chose this path for educational purposes. He is one of the earliest Black authors to write in German. In his partly autobiographical novel Der Junge aus Duala, Misipo describes childhood experiences in Cameroon as well as the arrival and upbringing in his “second homeland” Germany before and during World War I and in the Weimar Republic.

Misipo’s biography is only partially known: There are contradictory accounts regarding his education and his professional activities—whether as a doctor, bacteriologist, musician, tour guide, lecturer, and/or author. His work raises several questions: Was his novel Der Junge aus Duala, published in a first verifiable edition in 1973 by Kraus Reprint and again in 2022 by Rüdiger Köppe Verlag, already released in the early 1930s, as Misipo himself and some bibliographical references suggest? What networks and intellectual relationships did Misipo maintain in Germany and later in France, given that he was also connected to the Parisian journal Présence Africaine and the Négritude movement through his cousin Maria Mandessi Bell (Diop) and her son-in-law Alioune Diop? What role do these intellectual connections play in his literary and journalistic work?

In addition to archival research on these questions, the subproject focuses on Misipo’s numerous articles published in magazines on a variety of topics, such as urban planning in Africa, the N-word, Janheinz Jahn’s Muntu, or the "Tacitus of Africa," Leo Frobenius; his Cameroonian epic Korrongo. Das Lied der Waganna (1961) and Der Junge aus Duala. In the latter, Misipo does not present a straightforward autobiography, but rather a text that experiments with (post-)modern techniques (e.g. achronological narration, stream of consciousness, intertextuality) and various stylistic registers (e.g. sports report, romance novel, and a kind of artificial High German).

A workshop on November 14th and 15th, 2024, focused particularly on the complex literary techniques of Der Junge aus Duala. In addition to academic publications and the compilation of a comprehensive bibliography of the author, several knowledge transfer activities are planned: a continually updated Wikipedia article; an entry in the Lückenliste (Gaps List) as well as a contribution to the teaching material “Lücken füllen. Neue Texte und Praxisimpulse für einen kanonreflexiven Unterricht” (both projects of the initiative #breiterkanon); as well as a text portrait within the project Cartography of the Political Novel in Europe (CAPONEU).

This subproject examines, among others, the novels Beyond the Horizon (1991) by Amma Darko, On Black Sisters’ Street (2007) by Chika Unigwe, Barefoot in Germany (2020) by Tete Loeper, and the feature film Joy (2018) by Sudabeh Mortezai. All of these works tell stories of Black women who come to Europe from the African continent as sex workers. They are mostly written by Black authors or authors of Color who have themselves migrated to Europe and share certain experiences with their protagonists. However, they do not share others, such as the experience of being an ‘illegal’ resident or a sex worker in Europe. Through the means of fiction, these works initiate a discussion about sex trafficking as a form of modern slavery, without reducing the individuals involved to their status as enslaved persons. They thereby question conventional roles, such as those of white perpetrators vs. Black victims, as well as antithetical concepts such as agency vs. victimhood. Focusing on the (neo-)colonialism of countries like Belgium, Germany, and Austria, these works creatively appropriate the genre of the slave narrative and add new dimensions to its originally Anglo-American focus.

When working with such “neocolonial enslavement narratives,” the central research question is how their Black narrators and protagonists re-imagine Europe. What is the role of intertextuality and genre references in reversing, questioning, or appropriating the ethnographic gaze at “the Others”? How do these texts portray Black people in Europe and the differences within Black communities? And how is whiteness depicted, de-normalized, or re-framed?

In addition to academic lectures and a series of articles, there will also be activities in the field of knowledge transfer including the creation and updating of Wikipedia articles on individual texts and a text portrait within the project Cartography of the Political Novel in Europe (CAPONEU).

James Baldwin has experienced an unprecedented renaissance in recent years. A prominent author and activist in the 1960s and 1970s, his ideas were considered outdated by many towards the end of the 20th century. For some years now, however, Baldwin has been ubiquitous: as a role model for the Black Lives Matter movement; as a literary reference point for authors as diverse as Ta-Nehisi Coates, Alain Mabanckou, and Sasha Marianna Salzmann; and as an inspiration for countless tweets and posts on social media.

Although previous research has dealt extensively with Baldwin’s long stays in Europe (including in Paris, Leukerbad, Istanbul, and St. Paul de Vence), little attention has been paid to the reception of his work in non-Anglophone European countries. Yet this reception is remarkably rich in the 21st century: In numerous countries and languages, Baldwin’s works have been reissued and newly translated; his quotes circulate in German-, French-, and Dutch-language social media; and many of the issues he addressed resonate with intersectional, post/colonial, post-migrant, or Afropean contexts.

A special issue of the James Baldwin Review planned for 2025 will focus on the multilingual and multimedia “European Baldwins” of the 20th and 21st centuries. The individual contributions will examine Baldwin in German, French, Polish, Spanish, and Turkish contexts, among others. They will approach Baldwin’s legacy in Europe through the analysis of his reception in the media, intertextual connections, or the study of digital networks related to Baldwin. Other contributions examine the ways in which translations deal with racist vocabulary, the prefaces and afterwords of newly published editions of Baldwin’s works, as well as the role of censorship authorities.

From the mid-20th century, the Négritude movement expanded from France to large parts of Black Europe. Négritude was driven by the political and philosophical works of Black intellectuals such as Aimé Césaire and Léopold Sédar Senghor. The central concerns of the movement were to break free from Europe, to reconnect with the origins of one’s being, and center the African continent as the starting point of one’s life and political demands. Négritude created a cultural and, above all, literary space that allowed Black and African people to define their own Afro-European culture and explore new ways to engage with their own history beyond the white gaze. In 1949, in the newly formed Council of Europe, Senghor advocated for a ׅ“Eurafrique” that would turn its back on colonialism. This precursor to the contemporary concept of “Afropea” offered a place of refuge and longing where Black culture was celebrated and appreciated, while at the same time calling for the right to exist in Europe.

The celebration of Black and African culture practiced by Négritude can also be found in contemporary articulations of Afropea, such as Johny Pitts’ 2019 report Afropean: Notes from Black Europe. Through his images and texts, Pitts paints a portrait of Black Europe in all its complexity and ambivalence. Afropean thus provides a contemporary framework of identification for a new Black generation in Europe.

Thanks in part to the translations by Janheinz Jahn, Négritude texts were also widely received in Germany. The aim of this dissertation project is to trace connections between the approaches of Négritude (such as Senghor’s “Eurafrique”) and contemporary ideas of “Afropea” in Afro-German literature. The analysis will focus on modern classics from Germany, such as Sharon Dodua Otoo’s Ada’s Realm (2018) and Olivia Wenzel’s 1000 Serpentinen Angst (2020), as well as lesser-known works like the novella Biskaya (2019) by queer author SchwarzRund. The analysis focuses on the continuities, ruptures, and new conceptions that become visible in the reception of Europe. Special attention will be given to the role of Black women and queer writers in shaping Afro-European identity, and the cultural and political significance of their contributions to the African diaspora. In the context of Négritude, this includes largely unexplored figures such as Paulette and Jeanne Nardal, and Suzanne Césaire, as well as contemporary Afro-German authors whose texts contribute to discourses on Black identities in Europe by adding an intersectional and postcolonial perspective.